Wild Blue, Over YonderTake to the skies for a view of the New River Gorge

you’ll never forget—or regret.WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY NIKKI BOWMAN

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28 WONDERFUL WEST VIRGINIA | JULY 2019

In order for you to truly appreciate this story, you have to first understand a few things.

First, understand that I hate flying. Not in your typical flying-is-a-nuisance way. I have been known to have full-blown

panic attacks mid-flight. I’ve reported suspicious passengers to flight attendants. When my entire family needs to fly, I contemplate taking separate planes.

Second, I get motion sickness. I get queasy in cars, I get sick on trains, and I turn green riding the merry-go-round. So the idea that I would even contemplate flying in an open-air cockpit of a World War II biplane and do aerobatics over the New River Gorge is frankly almost unbelievable. Just ask my mother.

But not only did I do it, I loved it. It was the most incredible outdoor activity I’ve ever experienced in West Virginia—and I have Wild Blue Adventure Co., a company located between Fayetteville and Oak Hill, to thank for it.

History in the Skies“We have a wide range of customers,” says Chris Kappler, owner and pilot at Wild Blue Adventure Co. “Some have a bit of trepidation, but that quickly goes away. Most people never want to land.”

Kappler’s aerial tours aren’t your run-of-the-mill sightseeing tours, because his aircraft isn’t your run-of-the-mill plane. He has a functioning museum-quality Stearman biplane that’s more than 70 years old and has been painstakingly restored to original specifications.

Boeing built the plane for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943. It was sent to a training airfield in Clarksdale, Mississippi, for a few months before the Army forwarded it to Riddle Field in Clewiston, Florida, where it was used to train pilots for Great Britain’s Royal

TOP Chris Kappler, pilot and owner of Wild Blue Adventure Co., prepares for takeoff. BOTTOM A ride in Kappler’s vintage World War II plane is no passive experience—you can see all the dials and levers that keep the plane aloft.

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Air Force. Training fledgling pilots in Europe was next to impossible, since the skies there swarmed with Axis fighters. Many British pilots decamped for the United States and Canada for training.

Kappler’s plane trained pilots in Clewiston until 1945. With the war over, the Army sold it as surplus. Someone converted it into a crop duster, a job it held until a plane collector found the Stearman and restored it to its original glory in the late 1970s. “This is judged to be one of the nicer Stearmans in the country,” he says.

Riding in a vintage plane is nothing like flying in a modern-day puddle jumper, commercial jet, or helicopter. First of all, it is experiential. You aren’t a bystander; you are a participant in the experience and open to the elements (which I believe helped alleviate my motion sickness).

You also are tethered to a parachute. Actually, the seat cushion is the parachute—an authentic World War II creation by Butler Parachutes that has been modernized to current FAA standards. For some reason, I found that reassuring.

As the plane takes off, your head isn’t thrown forcibly back with your face feeling like a Kenny Rogers facelift. (For those of you with a fear of flying, you’ll understand why this is important.) It’s gentle—as is the landing.

Instead of flight attendants pointing out the nearest exits, Kappler points out local landmarks: Fayetteville,

Hawks Nest, Kanawha Falls, Summersville Lake, and the New River Gorge Bridge, to name a few. A communication system allows you to talk back and forth with the pilot, and strategically placed mirrors gives Kappler access to your face at all times so he can gauge your reactions—and skin color.

From Obsession to ProfessionKappler grew up in southern California where, while he was still a child, he became obsessed with planes. According to family lore, he wouldn’t play with cars, trains, or G.I. Joes—nothing but planes.

He started taking flying lessons when he was still a teenager, making his first solo flight at 16. He yearned to own a vintage plane of his own and eventually scraped together enough money to buy a Stearman biplane from a friend.

This Stearman had a similar story to Kappler’s current plane: It was built in 1940 for the U.S. Army Air Corps, used to train pilots at Army airfields, sold and converted into a crop duster, then sold again to a buyer who completely disassembled and restored it.

Kappler eventually married a West Virginia native and, when the couple and their six children moved to the Mountain State in 2005, the biplane came with them.

He started Wild Blue Adventure Co. in 2008 after realizing how interested people in West Virginia were in his vintage plane. “We used to have it just for fun, and using it was a blast,” he says. “But every time we would pull it out, people would pull over to ask us how much it cost for a ride.”

See the sights of the New River Gorge like never before—from a bird’s eye view.

30 WONDERFUL WEST VIRGINIA | JULY 2019

For a while, Kappler also flew a vintage Piper Cub. This plane provided a tamer ride, but he eventually got rid of it. Guests would book a flight on the Piper but, the moment they showed up and saw the Stearman, instantly decided they’d rather take the World War II plane instead.

He upgraded to his current Stearman, a nicer restoration that looks almost identical to the original plane, in 2011.

Do a Barrel RollWhen you take the biplane tour, you have the option to take the traditional “upright” tour or to add aerobatics. If you opt for aerobatics, Kappler calmly explains what to expect before each stunt. He doesn’t surprise you, scare you, or make you sick. I chose to experience a mild aerobatic first to see if I could manage it, and to my surprise I was hooked—hooting, hollering, and laughing with abandon.

A few vertical climbs into barrel rolls, hammerheads, and s-turns later, and I was smiling from ear to ear. “I think we really do make flying a visceral experience,” Kappler says.

It is hard to articulate the feeling of f lying in an open cockpit with the wind in your face and the world

moving unaware beneath you. You are completely surrounded by the magnificent expanse of ridge-rippled sky. Not only are you experiencing American aviation history, but soaring over the state’s finest scenery renders one speechless.

I’ve driven across the New River Gorge Bridge, I’ve walked beneath it, and I’ve rafted the waters below it, but the bird’s eye view is unbelievable. It feels as if you are traveling on an uncharted highway, seeing the world in a way that few get to experience. When you climb upward with the sun hot on your forehead, then roll, twist, and dip down—and it’s just you and the sky with the rolling hills and the rushing rivers beneath—it’s almost as if you are soaring into an embrace. It’s freedom. It’s peace. It’s unmitigated joy.

I’ve recommended the experience to everyone I know. I’ve given gift certificates to loved ones for special occasions. Usually the response is, “I don’t think I could do that.” Yes, you can—and you should.

In more than 2,800 flights, Kappler has never had an unsatisfied customer, and I’m willing to bet you’ll feel the same way. For more information call 304.574.1150 or visit www.wildblueadventurecompany.com. w

Wild Blue Adventure Company is housed at Fayette Airport, off of U.S. Route 19. Chris Kappler started his company in 2008. Packages range from 20 minutes to one hour flying time.